\u201cTHE BETRAYAL,\u201d one fan wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cbestiessss nooooo,\u201d another lamented.<\/p>\n
76 was unfazed, responding: \u201cStill a bestie, just spreading the love!\u201d<\/p>\n
Strange as the reactions may sound, it\u2019s not unheard of for long-lived ad campaigns to take on a life of their own, evolving from paid promotions to cultural touchstones. Outside Fenway Park in Boston, Red Sox fans have fought to preserve the massive Citgo sign<\/a>, with its logo of a Venezuelan-owned oil company.<\/p>\n Nor is it shocking that Houston-based Phillips 66 would market itself through another baseball team. The 76 gasoline brand, after all, evokes the patriotism of 1776 \u2014 a clever marketing ploy. And what\u2019s more American than Major League Baseball?<\/p>\n Still, the timing of Phillips 66\u2019s decision to start sponsoring the Giants is intriguing.<\/p>\n Since last summer, nearly 30,000 people have signed a petition<\/a> urging Dodgers ownership to cut ties with the oil company. California is currently suing Phillips 66 and other oil and gas companies for climate damages<\/a>, accusing them of a \u201cdecades-long campaign of deception\u201d to hide the truth about the climate crisis.<\/p>\n Climate activists protest outside Dodger Stadium before a game May 15, 2025, calling on the team\u2019s ownership to drop Phillips 66 as a sponsor.<\/p>\n (Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The Sierra Club Angeles Chapter held its third protest at Dodger Stadium before a game against the Athletics<\/a> on May 15. Activists cloaked in sackcloth marched outside the parking lots. One played a bagpipe.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bit hard for the fans to comprehend,\u201d organizer Lisa Kaas Boyle acknowledged.<\/p>\n Still, she believes the cause is righteous. <\/p>\n A former environmental crimes prosecutor and a co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, Kaas Boyle lost her home in the Palisades fire. She\u2019s also a Dodgers fan, having caught the bug from her husband, whose 89-year-old mom grew up cheering for the team in Brooklyn. She has a special place in her heart for Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n So when the Dodgers joined other sports teams in pledging $8 million to wildfire relief<\/a>, she felt the organization was \u201cspeaking out of two sides of its mouth.\u201d She pointed to a study concluding that the weather conditions that helped drive the Palisades and Eaton fires were 35% more likely<\/a> due to climate change.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you really care about us fire victims, you wouldn\u2019t be promoting one of the major causes of the disaster,\u201d Kaas Boyle said. \u201cIf you really care, you wouldn\u2019t be boosting their image, greenwashing it through baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n At least one member of the Dodgers ownership group cares about presenting a climate-friendly image.<\/p>\n Tennis star Billie Jean King posted on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and X<\/a> in the fall promoting a climate summit<\/a> being held next week at the University of Oxford, co-hosted by an arm of the United Nations. U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has called on all countries to ban fossil fuel advertising<\/a>.<\/p>\n So, what does King think of the 76 ads at Dodger Stadium? <\/p>\n Hard to say. Her publicist didn\u2019t respond to my request for comment.<\/p>\n Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas scratches a message in the dirt near second base at Dodger Stadium on May 18, with a 76 logo on the outfield wall in the background.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The Dodgers also declined to respond. Same goes for the Giants and Phillips 66.<\/p>\n So why is the oil company \u201cspreading the love\u201d to the Bay Area? <\/p>\n Again, hard to know for sure. But Duncan Meisel has a theory. He runs the advocacy group Clean Creatives, which pressures ad agencies to stop working with fossil fuel clients. And he suspects that lawmakers and regulators based in Sacramento are less likely to attend a baseball game in L.A. than in nearby San Francisco.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re 76, and you\u2019re worried about decision-makers in California, that\u2019s where you\u2019d want to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Indeed, Phillips 66 may have reasons to be worried.<\/p>\n The company plans to close its Los Angeles County oil refinery<\/a> this year \u2014 a troubling sign of the economic times for Big Oil as California shifts toward electric cars. Lawmakers are also weighing a \u201cpolluters pay\u201d<\/a> bill that would require fossil fuel companies to help pay for damages from more intense heat waves, wildfires and storms.<\/p>\n Phillips 66, meanwhile, was arraigned this month<\/a> on charges that it violated the U.S. Clean Water Act by dumping oil and grease from its L.A. County refinery into the local sewer system. (It pleaded not guilty.) That followed a win for climate activists in March, when state Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) wrote to Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter<\/a>, urging him to dump Phillips 66.<\/p>\n Hence, perhaps, the newfound relationship with the Giants.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why you advertise,\u201d Meisel said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a company like Phillips 66 that\u2019s under threat from political and cultural pressures in California, it\u2019s hard to get a better deal than sponsoring a local sports team.\u201d<\/p>\n If you look closely, you can see the 76 ad on the digital clock high above the center field fence at San Francisco\u2019s Oracle Park on May 4 (Star Wars Day, hence the Stormtroopers).<\/p>\n (Jeff Chiu \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just California turning up the heat on Phillips 66. Executives have been battling a pressure campaign from Elliott Investment Management, which won two seats<\/a> on the company\u2019s board last week.<\/p>\n As Elliott ramped up the pressure on Phillips 66 earlier this year, executives announced an expanded sponsorship deal<\/a> with their hometown ball club \u2014 another Dodgers nemesis, as it happens, the cheating Houston Astros<\/a>.<\/p>\n Phillips 66 now sponsors the home run train atop the high left-field wall at Houston\u2019s Daikin Park (formerly Minute Maid Park). The train is filled with 25 oversized baseballs<\/a>, each representing a special moment in Astros history \u2014 yes, including the World Series title they stole from the Dodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n As Phillips 66 brand manager John Field said in an April news release<\/a>: \u201cSponsorships like these are more than just fun \u2014 they\u2019re a strategic investment.\u201d<\/p>\n Fun and strategic, sure, if you\u2019re mainly invested in oil industry profits. If you care about watching baseball games in safe temperatures<\/a>, without choking on wildfire smoke<\/a>, you might reach a different conclusion.<\/p>\n One thing\u2019s for sure: Fossil fuel companies will keep pumping money into baseball<\/a> so long as teams let them. The Astros<\/a>, Texas Rangers<\/a> and Cleveland Guardians<\/a> all wear jersey patches sponsored by oil and gas companies.<\/p>\n In California, meanwhile, Phillips 66 will keep reminding Dodgers fans how much they love looking at 76 logos \u2014 a playbook so successful it once inspired a campaign<\/a> to save the rotating 76 balls above gas stations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a heavy play on Americana,\u201d Roberta J. Newman said.<\/p>\n A Yankees fan and professor in New York University\u2019s Liberal Studies program, Newman wrote the fascinating book<\/a>, \u201cHere\u2019s the Pitch: The Amazing, True, New, and Improved Story of Baseball and Advertising.\u201d There may be nobody with a better understanding of the cultural and political power of baseball-linked advertising.<\/p>\n The former 76 gas station in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, seen in 2003.<\/p>\n (Alex Gallardo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n When a brand like 76 associates itself with the Dodgers \u2014 through special ticket deals, joint promotions<\/a> with the team charity and TV commercials starring Vin Scully<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s engaged in \u201cmeaning transfer,\u201d Newman said. <\/p>\n \u201cYour positive associations of the Dodgers will become positive associations with 76,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Most fans won\u2019t drive away from Dodger Stadium and immediately choose 76 over a rival gasoline station. But in the long run, they\u2019ll have good vibes when they see the orange-and-blue logo. It\u2019ll feel familiar, friendly.<\/p>\n If that sounds nuts \u2014 well, you might want to tell business executives they blew $1 trillion<\/a> on ads last year.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople might think, \u2018Oil is terrible. But 76 is the Dodgers,\u2019\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s the Giants, too \u2014 not that Newman thinks the dual loyalty will hurt the company. As one Instagram user, a Giants fan, wrote: \u201cHey Dodger fans, it\u2019s OK! … 76 is a California icon and tradition from North to South!\u201d<\/p>\n Fair enough. Wildfires are getting bigger and more destructive up there too.<\/p>\n This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox<\/a>. And listen to our \u201cBoiling Point\u201d podcast here<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more climate and environment news, follow @Sammy_Roth<\/a> on X and @sammyroth.bsky.social<\/a> on Bluesky.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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